Dreamin’

Looks doubtful that I will get on the ice this weekend. Stinkin’ weather! I guess I will just continue to dream about it. . . .

While day-dreaming, I have stumbled onto these “Sixty Seconds Underwater” videos by Engbretson Underwater Photography. These fuel my dreaming and even though they are only sixty seconds at a time, if you watch you will learn some things about your favorite fish!

Some things I notice in those videos: Cruising fish are active fish, fins up, on the move, put the right bait in front of those fish and they are very catchable. On the other hand, inactive fish, fins down, sitting on the bottom or right up along cover, good luck, you may not be able to get those fish to bite, maybe if you put a natural presentation right on their noses, but even then, maybe not.

Those are some big schools of yellow perch, relatively small yellow perch. I am betting those fish are on the move pretty much all the time during daylight and pretty much on the look for anything they can find to eat.

Crappies love cover, aquatic vegetation or woody cover. They also cruise when they are active and looking for food, but crappies are so casual, so laid back, “think I will just drift over here and see if I can pin a minnow”. Notice also how the crappie schools are spread out vertically as well as horizontally. Love it when I see that on my depth-finder!

One last thing. . . . a co-worker shared this photo with me, a photo of his daughter and granddaughter enjoying some time on the ice! It is a good photo and I love it! You bet, I am very much about the hunting, fishing, and trapping, but that is just a means to an end. It is about the time spent together with family, all family, both sexes. Find some time, find a family member, grab a friend if there is no family available, and get them out there!

About daryl bauer

Daryl is a lifelong resident of Nebraska (except for a couple of years spent going to graduate school in South Dakota). He has been employed as a fisheries biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for 25 years, and his current tour of duty is as the fisheries outreach program manager.
Daryl loves to share his educational knowledge and is an avid multi-species angler. He holds more than 120 Nebraska Master Angler Awards for 14 different species and holds more than 30 In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards for eight different species.
He loves to talk fishing and answer questions about fishing in Nebraska, be sure to check out his blog at outdoornebraska.org.